The book of
Judges--which follows the five books of Moses, plus Joshua, in our Old
Testament-- presents a dismal 400-year record of Israel's failures after the
death of Joshua. The entire time period is characterized by a single verse of
Scripture, (repeated six times)

"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone
did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25)

Joshua was
certainly a powerful, influential, and godly leader for the preceding period of
the conquests of the land. He sensed what would follow his demise, (Joshua 24).
In response to his warnings, given as his life was drawing to a close, the
people responded by saying essentially the same thing they had promised Moses at
least twice before,

"So the people answered [Joshua] and said:
"Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; "for
the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and
preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom
we passed. "And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the
Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our
God."

But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve
the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your
transgressions nor your sins. "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods,
then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."

And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will
serve the LORD!" So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against
yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him." And
they said, "We are witnesses!" "Now therefore," he said, "put away the foreign
gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel."
And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice
we will obey!" (Joshua 24:16-24)

The
incomplete disobedience of Israel after Joshua's death is laid out in grim
detail in Judges Chapter 2.

Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal
to Bochim, and said: "I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of
which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with
you. 'And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you
shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you
done this? "Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they
shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'" So it
was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of
Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. Then they called the
name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD...So the people
served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who
outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done
for Israel...

When all that generation had been gathered to
their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD
nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; and they forsook the LORD God
of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they
followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them,
and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. They forsook
the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the LORD was hot
against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled
them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they
could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of
the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD
had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who
delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not
listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed
down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked,
in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. And when the LORD
raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out
of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved
to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed
them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and
behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve
them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from
their stubborn way. Then the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He
said, "Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their
fathers, and has not heeded My voice, "I also will no longer drive out before
them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, "so that through them I
may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them
as their fathers kept them, or not." Therefore the LORD left those nations,
without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

One might
suppose that the problem could be rectified by God calling forth a king to rule
over His people. Reading ahead into First Samuel (Chapter 8), that actually is
what happened later on, but without solving the root problem. Israel eventually
had nearly 40 kings, yet most of them did not take the Lord seriously. Even
earlier (during the time of the Judges) the people had asked Gideon to be their
king (Judges 8,9). Gideon wisely refused, but he nevertheless lived the rest of
his life in kingly luxury, setting the stage for a great tragedy in his family which
took place as soon as he died.

In the
chaotic days of the Judges there could be no effective central authority
because there was no recognized authority in the lives of the individual
citizens of the land. Basically, people do not want God ruling over them in the
first place.To this day, we all
seem to want to live as independently as possible, pursuing our own goals, our personal
dreams and ambitions assuming that we are doing things right all the while. We
may actually be living far, far out of tune with God's standards and not even
know it!

When the
people of Israel entered the promised land they found it lush and green,
fertile and productive. Ignoring God's revelation about the inhabitants, and
reasoning for themselves, they decided that the land's bounty was probably
caused by the gods of the Canaanites. Most likely these Canaanite people seemed
nice enough, and even appeared to be harmless neighbors, in spite of their
worship of the fertility gods of nature and their open endorsement of sexual
immorality of every conceivable kind.

The times
of the Judges is probably a good picture of the autonomous lifestyles many
American professing Christians are living these days. "In general, the
American dream can be defined as being the opportunity and freedom for all
citizens to achieve their goals and become rich and famous if only they work
hard enough." (Wikipedia). We are so accustomed to our own national
idolatry most of us probably don't realize the "Canaanite" danger all
around us is greater now than ever before. Our society offers us all manner of
consumer goods, pleasure, travel and enjoyment, the good things of life--but we
are asked to be "tolerant" of (and eventually to buy into) the pagan
idolatry which is everywhere nowadays.

But God's people
are called to be a separate people, a holy nation, in every generation living according
to the standards of our High and Holy King Jesus.

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is
holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy,
for I am holy." And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges
according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your
stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like
silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in
God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and
hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently
with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but
incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because "All
flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The
grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures
forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as
to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you
also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no
means be put to shame." Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to
those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become
the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They
stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But
you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special
people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of
God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you
as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the
soul..." (1 Peter 1:13-2:11)

The
fascinating book Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam (Simon & Schuster 2000) documents
the erosion of social groups, associations, connectivity, social support
groups, and close personal friendships in recent decades. We are increasingly a
nation of disconnected, isolated, lonely individuals. This is especially bad
news for the church of Jesus Christ which is called to bond together locally on
an intimate basis--closer to one another than one finds in most ordinary family
groups. For the church the old saying "united we stand, divided we
fall" is especially relevant. As our culture and American society fall
apart, it is most important for us Christians to take vigorous steps in the
opposite direction from the trends in our culture! If we each deal with the
microcosm of our individual lives we can leave the repair of the macrocosm to
God.

In reading
the letters of the Apostle Paul one can't help note the very large number of
Christian brothers the Apostle knew, prayed for, and cared for--even though
they were scattered about all over the Roman Empire. They were all
"family." We see Paul frequently stopping to pray for them or send
them greetings though they lived hundreds of miles apart.It was not exactly as if he had nothing
else to do! Today it is not likely we have any clue about our Christians in
other congregations even when neighboring churches are just down the block. And
next door neighbors? Many of us have no clue about them at all.

When the
collective spiritual standards of a local church slowly slip away, the flame in
individual hearts dies as well.There
is a cure to this situation of gradual decline in the Christian community, but
it depends on individuals who will resist the status quo, begin repenting on
behalf of the rest of us, and renewing our own close daily walk with God by
rearranging our priorities.

God has not
given us Christians a plot of land, a temple, an earthly inheritance--things He
did give to Israel in perpetuity. But He has given each of us a spiritual
sphere of influence--the
kingdom of our individual lives. Our invisible influence amongst our families,
our friends, at church, at work, thrives only when we place ourselves under the
authority and rule of Jesus the King of kings. When Jesus rules in and through
us, living His endless life through us, a lasting legacy is laid up for us in
heaven--even though our position in the present world system may be obscure or
unknown (Hebrews 11:32-40).

God helped
Israel during the period of the Judges by raising up 12 judges who liberated
the people for 10 or 20 or 40 years at a stretch. When the judge died, the
people soon reverted to their idolatrous ways, each time settling for a notch
further down the ladder than the generation before them. Are we not in a slow,
spiritual decline in our nation? Can we blame others when we are part of the
problem?

May I
especially recommend a recent and highly relevant article, When God Comes to
Church, Is it
wrong to pray that God will show up? by Steve Gaines. See http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/003/20.99.html. This article seems to me to be
perfectly suited for the times we're living in right now.